Cooperative Ocean Survey Method by a UAV and an AUV: State Estimation of the AUV Based on the UAV

Abstract This paper proposes a new concept of the ocean exploration method using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in cooperation. Conventional ocean survey by AUVs is supported by a ship and humans for deployment, recovery, and positioning during its survey. Therefore, it has been difficult to survey shallow areas that are inaccessible by ships or far from the land without a ship. In this study, however, this problem is solved by using the UAV to support the entire process from the beginning to the end of the survey. The UAV also acts as a positioning reference station for the AUV by deploying an acoustic positioning system. This allows the AUV to perform ocean exploration while estimating its position relative to the UAV. Sea experiments were conducted using a small AUV and UAVs, demonstrating that although the UAVs were manually controlled, the UAV and AUV can perform the entire exploration process from the beginning to the end, and especially that the AUV can estimate its position based on the UAV.